Veitch studied cartooning at The Kubert School,[3] and was in the first class to graduate from the school in 1978, along with his future long-time collaborators Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben. Veitch had already made his publishing debut prior to attending the Kubert School. In 1972, he illustrated the horror parody Two-Fisted Zombies written by his brother Tom Veitch,[4] but this one-shot failed to make a splash in the fading underground comix field of the 1970s. His next major project was an adaptation of the film 1941 with Bissette.[5]

During the 1980s, Veitch became known as a distinctive fantasy artist and writer for Marvel Comics' Epic Comics line, for which he created three graphic novels, Abraxas and the Earthman serialized in Epic Illustrated; Heartburst published as a standalone graphic novel; and The One originally published as a six-issue comic book limited series. Heartburst was straightforward science fiction, while The One was an ambitious and bizarre fantasy-adventure involving monstrous superheroes, the Cold War, and spiritual evolution. During this period Veitch also contributed numerous self-contained comics short stories to Epic Illustrated.[6]

Veitch's highest-profile title was DC Comics' Swamp Thing. His friends Totleben and Bissette had both illustrated the series since Alan Moore took over as writer.[7] Veitch joined the team for issue #37, in which Moore's popular character John Constantine was introduced,[8] and appeared regularly after issue #50. He also worked with Moore on Miracleman,[6] illustrating the story that graphically depicted the birth of Miracleman's child.

When Moore left the series after issue #64, Veitch took over as writer, dividing art duties between himself and Alfredo Alcala. His Swamp Thing stories took a similar approach to Moore's, combining horror-fantasy, ecological concerns, and an encyclopedic knowledge of DC Comics fantasy characters; however, he gradually turned his attention from the DC Universe to history and mythology, using time travel to introduce his hero to a variety of legendary figures. This was to conclude in issue #91. However things hit a snag after Veitch's plan for issue #88, a story in which Swamp Thing met Jesus Christ, was scrapped by DC President Jenette Kahn. Although DC had approved Veitch's initial script for the Jesus story, the topic was later deemed too inflammatory and was cancelled at the last minute. The publisher and writer were unable to reach a compromise; Veitch quit, and vowed never to work for DC until the story saw print.[9][10] Though the story arc has still never been printed, Veitch eventually did return to DC.[11]

After leaving DC, Veitch turned to the alternative comics field, where the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had provided the impetus for a black-and-white independent comics boom. After doing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles storyline for Mirage Studios, "The River", he began creating his own titles again, published by the Mirage spin-off Tundra Press.

During this period, he produced the graphic novels Bratpack and The Maximortal, which were to be part of a planned cycle of books called The King Hell Heroica. After Tundra collapsed, Veitch chose to emulate the successful self-published artist Dave Sim by creating his own publishing imprint, King Hell Press. King Hell has reprinted black-and-white editions of all of his original graphic novels.[6]

Veitch was reunited with Alan Moore on two titles for Image Comics, 1963 and Supreme. He then became a regular artist on Moore's America's Best Comics line published by Wildstorm, co-creating and then illustrating the graphically innovative "Greyshirt" serial, a Spirit homage, in Tomorrow Stories, and later writing a spin-off Greyshirt series. When Wildstorm was sold, both Veitch and Moore found themselves working indirectly for DC again, despite both having long-standing conflicts with the publisher. Veitch has since begun working directly for DC again, notably on its relaunch of Aquaman and on a mini-series reimagining DC-owned Charlton Comics character The Question as a self-trained urban shaman.[6] In 2006, Vertigo published his 352-page graphic novel, Can't Get No, a psychedelic 'road' narrative about a failed businessman finding himself after the World Trade Center attacks told without word balloons but embellished in captions with stream-of-consciousness free verse poetry loosely relating to plot developments.

During the 1990s, Veitch became interested in the Internet as an alternative to traditional comics distribution. In 1998, with Steve Conley, he created the "online convention" site Comicon.com, a combination message board, news portal, and web host for comics creators. He continues to run the site, and is a vocal advocate of self-publishing in both print and digital media.

He wrote and penciled the satirical Army@Love for Vertigo in 2007–2009.[12]

Veitch created a series of strips titled Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends, a reference to Winsor McCay's Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, which first appeared as backup features in his self-published titles. In 1994 he began a full-sized Rare Bit Fiends series. King Hell published 21 issues of Rare Bit Fiends and has collected the first 20 in three paperback volumes, which also include essays by Veitch speculating about the nature of dreaming. The original series also reproduced dream comics submitted by readers.

Veitch had a cameo in the Cerebus the Aardvark story arc "Guys" as "Roaring Rick" where Cerebus is dreaming, and Roaring Rick appears to him and gives a surreal monologue on the nature of dreams, lucid dreaming, etc.[13]

^Weldon, Glen (August 13, 2012). "Comics Legend Joe Kubert, 1926–2012: An Appreciation". NPR. p. 2. Archived from the original on December 22, 2013. Retrieved 2012-08-16. His Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New Jersey has produced several generations of comics creators (including his own sons, Andy and Adam Kubert) who have gone on to make their own, widely varied, contributions to the field: Amanda Connor, Rick Veitch, Eric Shanower, Steve Lieber, Scott Kolins, and many more.

^Callahan, Timothy (October 1, 2012). "When Words Collide: Revisiting Goodwin & Simonson's Alien". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2013. The Bissette/Veitch 1941 graphic novel is a hideous mess. Sure, it's a spectacular, hideous mess, and it's a million times more compelling than the dull debacle that was the Steven Spielberg 'comedy,' but it's more like an experiment in the grotesque than it is an adaptation of anything.

^Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 213: John Constantine, the master magician and future star of Vertigo's John Constantine: Hellblazer, was introduced in a Swamp Thing story from writer Alan Moore, with art by Rick Veitch and John Totleben."